Candidate Position Paper: Pledge to Run a Positive Campaign

Manuel Jimenez – The Quality of Life Candidate for District 6

Candidate Position Paper: Candidate Pledge to Run a Positive Campaign.

January 31, 2006

I pledge to run a positive campaign. That means I will not take cheap shots at my competition. Furthermore, the tone of my campaign will be civil, respectful and professional.

- Things I believe to be valid issues about a candidate are their credentials for office; issues and political positions, who is supporting the candidate; the amount and source of financial donations; nepotistic relationships that benefit the candidate, and whether the candidate has lived in District 6.

- Things I believe to be off limits are using rhetorical polemics, smears, innuendo, a candidate’s personal life, and the candidates family.

This is not to suggest that I will to return fire if attacked. This pledge will not preclude me from defending myself, my positions or my message. As a former Marine and trial attorney, I know how to hit back, and hit back hard.

I understand that the Honorable Supervisor Chris Daly has been criticized for his combative behavior. Let me state my position, and reasoning, for not joining the criticism leveled at Mr. Daly. I believe Mr. Daly is a passionate advocate for the positions he stakes out. Those issues include, amongst others, affordable housing and homelessness. When a person advocates for a disenfranchised and underserved constituency, and is then confronted by powerful economic interests that twist truth, usurp political power from doing the people’s business, and use political tactics designed to confuse and deceive, anyone should react passionately. I believe that reports of Mr. Daly’s combative manner have been spread and over-reported by a complicit corporate media, which allow the utilization of two political tactics refined by the conservative movement.

The first is to take a misstatement of fact, or an insignificant event, and focus in on it, repeat the message with great repetition, and thereby divert the political debate away from issues and policy, and into name calling characterizations (The “Swift Boat Veterans for Truth” campaign against John Kerry is a good example). That is why we all know Mr. Daly as combative, but less so his policies and objectives. By way of example, during the 2004 Presidential cycle, Howard Dean’s “I Have a Scream” speech was repeated escessively by his polical opponents. He was demonized as an arrogant madman, even though his political positions were well thought out, and for the most part main stream.

The second political tactic being utilized is for the politically powerful to make accusations about an opponent or his transgressions of which they themselves are guilty. The utilization of a type of Orwellian new speak, i.e. the political tool of "imaging,” allows them to say one thing, while doing the opposite. Common terms and concepts are twisted and redefined so that they can argue the absurd and make seemingly logical conclusions from unsupportable concepts. Therefore, Chris Daly is overwhelmed by accusations of profanity or incivility, while the political powerful do the bidding of powerful economic interests and subvert the business of the people.

The result is that “Daly's tenure on the Board has been "Chronicled" in more than two dozen editorials with headlines ranging from "Daly's Incivility," "A Walking Embarrassment," "City Hall Civility" to "City Hall Incivility." In some 40 op-ed page columns, the Chronicles' right-wing propagandist Ken Garcia has excoriated Daly as a fool and a court jester, dangerous and unbalanced, a child of privilege, a so-called radical, a Bolshevik and the poster child for the downside of district elections. Whew! Speaking of civility ...” – (SFbayview.com)

Therefore, I will make my campaign about issues. It is on the issues that I will cross swords with my competition, and it is through the issues that I will succeed.

Politics and the Media

It should be troubling to all San Franciscans that a person who has expressed no interest in running for the District 6 seat on the Board of Supervisors, who has lived in Washington D.C. for over ten years (and does so presently), and eventually had to affirmatively state that she's not running for the seat, gets more attention about her non-candidacy than do residents of San Francisco who've actually expressed an interest in running. For example:

"Christina Pelosi Announces She Won't Run in District 6
by Casey Mills‚ Jan. 26‚ 2006

On January 18, Beyond Chron reported that Nancy Pelosi's daughter Christina was being encouraged by downtown to run for Supervisor against Chris Daly in District 6 this November. In their column yesterday, Mattier and Ross confirmed our account, and revealed that Pelosi had decided not to enter the race. The Mayor and downtown clearly remain dissatisfied with the current challengers to Daly, and are likely to continue search their candidate search."

In both the above indicated stories, none of the other potential candidates who actually filed their intent to run are mentioned. This phenomenon represents two of our society's growing ills, (1) the growing prevalence of nepotistic politics, which in California is eroding the progressive policy reforms made during the progressive era of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and (2) the replacement of investigative journalists, and journalism as a profession, with "access reporting" and the stenographic discipline of "balanced news" in which the media (not to be confused with a journalist - but more akin to a blogger) restate what other people have said in a "competing view" format, then presents the transaction as news. For instance, in our present corporate media, a Democrat could say "White is White," and a Republican can say, "Black is White" and the media then presents both views as deserving equal weight of consideration (this example is not my own, but I forgot where I got it, so I can’t site the source). I recommend to anyone interested in the fiasco that is our current media system, pick up a copy of Tragedy and Farce: How the American Media Sell Wars, Spin Elections, and Destroy Democracy by John Nichols and Robert W. McChesney.

Candidate Position Paper on City Traffic

Manuel Jimenez – The Quality of Live Candidate

Candidate Position Paper on City Traffic
www.vicioustwist.com
January 24, 2006

Most people riding bicycles in San Francisco, live in San Francisco. Yet, San Francisco's streets in and around the financial district, are laid out to accommodate commercial vehicles and commuters, at the expense of the quality of life of San Franciscans. Commuters drive their SUV's from faraway suburbs, to aggressively travel at dangerous speeds in and out of the city. This means a lot of one-way streets that act as dangerous inner city freeways. The liberal use of one-way streets means that persons utilizing alternative forms of transportation, such as bicyclists have to travel twice the distance to get to a road going the right direction. This may not mean much for a car, but for cyclists it means a lot.

Because the roads are set up to facilitate commercial and commuter traffic to move fast on surface streets, drivers resent bicyclists as slow moving obstacles. The irony is that people from far away places believe that San Franciscan bicyclists are out of place and in "their" way.


I can't count the number of times some indignant, self-righteous, irrationally frustrated driver (invariably on his way home to Petaluma or Alamo or somewhere) has tried to force me out of the way by positioning his urban tank dangerously close to me. Even the most diminutive person in a SUV becomes an aggressive and dangerous driver on the city streets.

Think I'm exaggerating? Sarah Tucker was killed on January 12, 2006 when she was a victim of hit and run. A black Honda CRV SUV hit Sarah at the intersection of Polk and Geary Streets. The vehicle ran red light as she was bicycling and she slammed into the Honda. The driver failed to stop, turned off his exterior lights, and sped away.

On November 17, 2000, in San Francisco, Christopher Robertson, a bicycle messenger, was riding with 15 friends in a funeral procession for fellow bike messenger Joseph Woods. The procession was riding down 4th Street in the South of Market area of San Francisco. A tractor-trailer came up behind the procession. Enraged that the group was occupying the lane, the driver began weaving his tractor-trailer side-to-side, and blowing his horn. He pulled alongside the group and shouted, before swerving into the group and crushing Chris under his rig. Christopher Robertson died on the streets of San Francisco. (DeMocker, Judy, When Good Drivers Go Bad@, San Francisco Examiner, December 11, 2000). One need only go observe the Messenger Memorial Board maintained by the San Francisco Bike Messenger Association to see the casualties of San Francisco’s poor traffic planning.

One solution that organizations like the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition has been pushing for are bicycle lanes. Unfortunately, many drivers think that these lanes transform into "double park" spaces when they put on their emergency lights. Bicyclist then must veer out into the fast moving traffic.


Another traffic disaster for bicyclist is Market Street. For much of Market Street there are no bicycle lanes. Traffic on market is heavy, with automobiles, commercial trucks, streetcars and buses squeezed together. The tight fit is exacerbated by bus drop off islands. The center two lanes of Market have streetcar tracks running down them. At various points there are metal grates that look like shredders, allowing for the circulation of air for the subway that runs under the street. Not just one subway mind you, but two subways systems run under Market; Muni and Bart.

Streets north of Market form a "V" as they intersect Market at a 45 degree angle. The streets to the south are perpendicular. At any given intersection you have upward of four streets coming together at different angles. The intersections are dangerous and unpredictable, as is Market Street itself. In other words, Market Street makes accommodations for all forms of traffic, with the exception of bicycles.

I propose:
1. All roads with traffic lane demarcation in San Francisco have bicycle lanes.
2. That Enforcement of laws requiring people not to park or obstruct bicycle lanes be a priority, and fines be significantly increased.
3. Accommodation of bicycles on ALL public transit, including MUNI.
4. Synchronized lights on all one-way streets to keep traffic flowing at or below the speed limit.
5. Conduct a study for a program that would close all streets to motor-vehicle traffic on which MUNI trains run.
6. Conduct a study for a program that restricts large commercial traffic on city streets during rush hours.
7. Double the fines for speeding or dangerous driving during rush hours.

Should I Be Insulted?

"The floating of a name as big as Pelosi’s proves the current District 6 Supervisor represents a major thorn in the side of the current administration, necessitating a formidable candidate to unseat him. It also proves that those who already announced their plans to run do not meet downtown’s requirements for such a candidate." - Casey Mills (Jan. 18, 2006, BeyondChron.org)

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Candidate Position : People's Access to the People's Business

Manuel Jimenez – The Quality of Life Candidate for District 6

Candidate Statement: People’s Access to the People’s Business

January 22, 2006

Having the Board of Supervisors meet on Tuesdays at 2:00 p.m. prevents the public’s right of participation to working and middle class residents of San Francisco, allowing undue influence of the moneyed interests that conduct business in the city. What will you be doing on Tuesday, at 2:00 p.m. If you are like most residents of San Francisco, you will be at work, and will be unable to attend the Board of Supervisors regularly scheduled weekly meetings. That is because those meetings are held at on Tuesdays at 2:00 p.m., inconveniently scheduled for a weekday, after the standard lunch hour.

What this effectively does is keep working class and middle class residents of San Francisco from attending board meetings. While it is true that the meetings are telecasts, and that the board accepts written public comments, that is no substitute for personal, face-to-face public participation.

Although you may not be attending these meetings, the moneyed interests that conduct business in the city, and unduly influence public policy, will be attending either in person or through their lawyers, lobbyists and representatives. They can afford to attend, and they know it’s important to attend.

For example, say you are a dyed in the wool 49ers fan, and have an objection to the Honorable Supervisor Gerardo Sandoval’s resolution, File No. 060072, recommending that San Francisco adopt the Seattle Seahawks as its official football team during the off-season for the duration of 2006, you probably won’t be there to tell the Board of Supervisors your opinion.

- This is what I propose: All Board of Supervisor meetings should be held in the evening, no earlier than 5:30 p.m. This would allow the people who vote, pay taxes, and live here to face and inform the Board of Supervisors about how they want the people’s business conducted. After all, the Board of Supervisors work for us.

Candidate Position: Homelessness

Manuel Jimenez – The Quality of Life Candidate

Candidate Statement on Homelessness
January 16, 2006

I’m going to start off my candidacy for the District 6 seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors by touching the third rail of San Francisco politics. It’s time to stop jerking around about the homeless problem in San Francisco. When the disenfranchised get here they are confronted with a criminal underclass that introduces them to self destruction through exploitation, dependency through self medication with narcotics such as methamphetamine, and hopelessness. San Francisco is a progressive city. We have historically, and will continue to do right by the homeless. Unfortunately, some of what we’ve done has been counter productive.

San Francisco provides unparalleled resources to the homeless. The disenfranchised make their way to San Francisco because of our generosity. It is society’s responsibility to provide for the disenfranchised. That is, after all, what community is about, supporting each other. At the same time, we as a community cannot provide the circumstance, or facilitate the exploitation of both the truly needy and the community as a whole by resident and outside criminal elements.

The disenfranchised come here because of San Francisco’s compassionate policies. Our abdication of responsibility toward the homeless creates an environment that encourages violent crime. What I am saying is not new. In New York, it was called the Broken Windows theory. “[I]f the first broken window in a building is not repaired, the people who like breaking windows will assume that no one cares about the building and more windows will be broken. Soon the building will have no windows.” (Wilson and Kelling, 1982). The theory suggests that more serious crimes evolve from minor infractions. In some instances, San Francisco’s compassion has served to make permanent a life of dependency that should have been only temporary.

This phenomenon affects the people who have chosen to make San Francisco their home. Let me talk about this situation from my perspective. My car has been broken into three times within two years. I’ve had a bicycle stolen. I’ve witnessed criminals trolling my neighborhood, looking into cars for valuables to steal. People defecate on the side walks. Addicts smoke crack on the streets. Shattered safety glass litters the streets where I live.

Let us not confuse compassion with the abdication of responsibility. It’s time to take responsibility for our city. This is what I propose:

1. Respect the disenfranchised. The homeless are people that deserve basic human dignity. Encourage both theoretical and practical solutions to deal with the chronically homeless. This includes aggressively tackling the root problems of homelessness, mental illness and addiction.

2. Safe Streets through Quality of Life Enforcement. Allow and encourage the SFPD to arrest minor offenders. This allows the police to conduct searches for outstanding bench/arrest warrants. It also communicates that San Francisco does not tolerate crime. If drugs are involved in criminal activity, the arrest of the offender may allow a period to detox. Most importantly, it allows San Francisco to get jurisdiction over the individual, and encourage treatment for the root causes of homelessness (mental illness and addiction).

3. Back the SFPD. As a community we should discourage politicians from using the SFPD as a whipping boy to accomplish self-interested political goals, at the expense of our first responders. Can you imagine working for a boss that treats you the way San Francisco treats it police department? Backing the SFPD will increase moral and productivity, which will result in good police work. The police officers of the SFPD put themselves on the line every day. They confront persons exhibiting the worst behaviors. At the end of the day, police officers are human beings, who make mistakes. Even so, the department should not be allowed to become punching bags for politicians to score cheap political points.

4. Aggressively helping the disenfranchised and attacking the roots of homelessness will help to improve blighted areas, encourage business to invest, increased tax revenue, and thereby help fund more services for the disenfranchised.

If I Have This Guys Support, Shouldn't I Have Yours?

Here is my old man, on his 65th birthday, wishing for my electoral success. Or is he?

The Street Crimes of San Francisco (Not Starring Karl Malden -- Though I suspect Quinn Martin May Be Involved).

It cost me $166 to replace the smashed window of my car on Monday. This is the third window I've replaced within the last two years. On Sunday, January 15th some jackass smashed the window of my car. I made the mistake of leaving the fold-down backseat down. That was invitation enough to break in. The only thing the guy got was my fastpass transponder. This is ridiculous. I lived in New York for 7 1/2 years, and never had a crime committed against me or my property. During my stint in San Francisco I've had my car broken into three times, a bike ravaged for parts (while locked), and the frame stolen from the inside of another car. I see people smoking crack on the sidewalk, and human waste in plain sight. I was safer in New York than in San Francisco. That is a tragedy.

What? Me Run For Supervisor?

San Francisco Sentinel
December 19, 2005, 7:30 p.m.

District 6 Supervisor Chris Daly will run for re-election, Daly disclosed last week in a televised interview.

"Daly also said he expects the race to get 'ugly,' but says he's going to run a 100% positive campaign," SFist reported. The interview appeared on The Bruce Petit Report.

The San Francisco Elections Departments lists seven other District 6 contenders on the department's potential candidate list for the November 2006 election.

They include Nadia S. Cabezas, Matthew Drake, Rodney Hauge, Manuel Jimenez, Bobby Jordan, Andrew Rucker, and William Stewart...

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